The Economy & Globalization

Question 1

Economic Systems - Socialism

Answer 1

1) Collective Goals - how are they decided on though?
2) Centralized decision-making and Public ownership of FOP (gov. NOT market that determines what is produced and how it is distributed

Question 2

Weber - Iron Cage Bureaucracy

Answer 2

• destroying class divisions/ inequality will not “free us” ; bureaucratic administration will constrain us just us much

Question 3

Economic Systems - Capitalism

Answer 3

1) Pursuit of Individual Goals
2) Competition (benefits spread through social world) - competition decreases and wealthy become wealthier and poor get poorer ; 1% own 50% of the world’s wealth
3) Lack of Government Intervention

Question 4

Global Stratification & Class - Marshal Plan

Answer 4

• despite massive gains in GDP, gap between wealthy and poor keep expanding
• “Marshal Plan” ; economic development overcomes poverty ; why didn’t it work?
  1) Debt - loans with various rates of interest, not fixed rate; indebted countries forced to cut social spending ; gov. couldn’t act autonomously not respond to social needs

Question 5

Results of Marshal Plan

Answer 5

1) Reduced Standard of Living
2) Rise in Cost of Living
EX. Brazil = top economy, yet over 40% pop. lives in poverty ; debt devalued currency ; grocery prices doubled

Question 6

International Division of Labour

Answer 6

• commodity production is fragmented and produced wherever is cheapest
• in global system of astronomical wealth, how are some living in such horrendous conditions?
• what forces have produced these problems and how are they structured?

Question 7

Problems with Economics

Answer 7

1) Economy does not exist in isolation ; connected to other areas - crime, gender, race etc. ; inherently SOCIAL
2) Rational Choice Theory ; marketing and consumerism leads to irrational behaviour ; neither consumerism or profit-seeking is natural or rational ; we are PRODUCTS of our social environments (MILGRAM)

Question 8

Economic Institutions are Irrational and Dysfunctional

Answer 8

• extreme disparities in wealth ; if business isn’t GROWING, it’s DYING
• Durkheim - we need external regulatory forces ; other societies had institutions and cultural practises that regulated surplus and inequality
  EX. Native American Potlatch

Question 9

Democracy

Answer 9

• public holds power through elected officials ; we can reduce social problems BUT we have to VOTE
• alienation, apathy or lack of familiarity of issues leads to low voting numbers ; 38% of 18-24 year olds voted in 2011
• politicians = elitists

Question 10

Sociology

Answer 10

• all social problems are social constructs therefore they can be changed (Sociological Imagination)
• should it be value-free? what should be done?
• Should ONE person tell us what should be done anyway?